There are many definitions
of Magic. One of the definitions of Magic
in The American Heritage Dictionary is: "The practice of using
charms, spells, or rituals to attempt to produce supernatural events or to
control events in nature."

Another definition from another source is:
"Magic is the attempt
to produce a response in the god and to manipulate him or her for human
purposes. Ancients believed that the gods could be manipulated."

I have defined magic as the
following:"Employing a technique
or ritual, to manipulate or control a natural or spiritual phenomena or
event, by supernatural means."

Using this definition, let
us look at what we call the "Indian Rain Dance". How does it
fit into the term magic?
1) It is a technique or ritual - There is an actual dance carried out
with specific movements, etc.
2) It's purpose is to manipulate or control the weather, i.e. cause it to
rain.
3) It is supposed to work by supernatural means.

Notice that cloud seeding by
airplanes does not fit the term magic since the manipulation of nature is not
by supernatural means but by science. Using my definition, something is
considered magic only if it meets all 3 criteria.

Egyptian
Magic

My definition goes well
with the Egyptians use of the term Magic. The Egyptians used magic for
both practical and religious purposes. They believed magic was a divine
creation for the benefit of humanity. It was considered a field of
knowledge just like architecture, literature, medicine, etc. It was just
another category of knowledge to be used in coping with their environment and
religion.

In our modern society, the
word magic does not convey the force it did in the ancient Egyptian
culture. To the Egyptians, magic was a real and potent force. It
was a tangible means of communicating, manipulating, and controlling
their gods. For example, their life depended on agriculture and thus the
weather. Using magic to control the weather was important for their
survival. Also, as we will be exploring, magic was essential after death
for safe passage through the afterlife.

Examples of some important
ancient Egyptian magic rituals concern defense against enemies. Wax or
clay figures of the enemy were ritual destroyed. Also magic was used to
keep away spiritual enemies (i.e. god's that were not favorable towards them
or wanted to harm them). Also personal spells were used against
someone's enemy. For example, there are spells that invoke evil gods to
appear in a person's dreams. Also personal use of magic included the use
of love potions. It usually consisted of some liquid or food that came
with an incantation. To the ancient Egyptians, it would not differ much
from a medical prescription. Remember, magic was just another field of
knowledge like medicine and was very real to them.

The purpose of the magic was
to compel the help of divine powers. Usually, the person carrying out
the magic was identified by name with a deity to obtain from him the power of
that god. Also the person might threaten that god with dire
consequences if his demands were not met.

Many of the Egyptian gods
were invoked using magic, but the most frequent god invoked was Isis,
since she was the protector of her son (Horus), with whom the person seeking
help would be identified with.

Dreams and
Prophecy

Magic was also used for the
prediction of the future. One way this was done was by asking the statue of a god
which acted as an oracle. Also prediction of the future could be
obtained through the interpretation of dreams. The Egyptians viewed dreams as a means
in which the gods could make contract with humans. Another practice,
known as "incubation", involves the sleeping in a temple in order to
receive prophetic dreams from a god.

The following is an example
of a dream interpretation taken from the Chester Beatty III papyrus.

"If a man sees himself
in a dream slaughtering an ox with his own hand, good: it means killing his
adversary.

"Eating crocodile
flesh, good: it means acting as an official among his people.

"Submerging in the
river, good: it means purification from all evils.

"Burying an old man,
good: it means flourishing.

"Working with stone in
his house, good: fixing a man in his house.

"Seeing his face in a
mirror, bad: it means another wife.

"Shod with white
sandals, bad: it means roaming the earth.

"Copulating with a
woman, bad: it means mourning.

"Being bitten by a dog,
bad: it means he will be touched by magic.

"His bed catching fire,
bad: it means driving away his wife.

Amulets

Amulets were also used for
magical protection. They were used both by the living and the
dead. Many amulets have been found in Egyptian tombs. These amulets
are in the shape of gods, goddesses, animals, objects, parts of the body, etc.
and were believed to contain special powers. Many amulets were wrapped
up with the mummy. The mummy of King Tut is a good example and many such
amulets were found wrapped in his mummy. Many different substances were
also used in the making of amulets which included stone, wood, clay, etc.
Since certain substances possessed certain powers, it was important to
choose the right substance for a specific type of amulet. Magic writing
was also considered an amulet and many such types of magical papyrus have been
found in tombs. Thus, wearing of amulets during life was the means of
seeking the gods protection and help. After death a special protection
was also needed and we will be discussing this.

Use of
Magic in Medicine

Medicine was practiced both
on scientific and magical levels. Prescriptions also relied both on pharmacology
and sympathetic magic. There were many spells to help cure snake
bites. Also spells were used for childbirth, pregnancy, and
conception. Many incantations have been found for birth, protection of
babies, providing of milk, and defensive against childhood diseases.

Magic for
the Dead

In the afterlife, it was
important for the deceased to be equipped with magical spells for their
protection. The earliest collection of such spells were found inscribed
inside Old Kingdom royal pyramids. These are called "Pyramid Texts"
since they were inscribed on the walls of the pyramids. Approximately
800 of these incantations have been found. Osiris first appears in these
texts as the lord of the dead.

Initially, only the King had
the promise of immortality. During the First Intermediate period, this
promise started to be extended to a wider social class. Thus during this
period there was an expanded collection of these incantations. In fact,
more than 1100 spells have been found. These spells were now copied onto
the interior surfaces of coffins. Thus these texts are referred to as
"Coffin Texts". Many of these were basically guide books to
the underworld so the spirit would not get lost.

Later, during the New
Kingdom, these spells were copied onto papyrus scrolls and were available to
anyone who could pay for them. We know these as the "Egyptian Book
of the Dead". The Egyptians called it by its true name which is
the "Book of Going Forth by Day". These books were not
standardized and many variations occur. Thus, magic was important not
only to the ancient Egyptian in this life, but also in the afterlife.